Jan. 26, 2008

By Gary Petit

MARIETTA — The Ohio Northern men’s basketball team stopped its three-game losing streak with an 80-56 victory over Marietta Saturday afternoon at the Ban Johnson Fieldhouse.

The Polar Bears are now 10-7 overall and 6-4 in the Ohio Athletic Conference. Marietta falls to 5-12 on the season and 1-9 in the OAC.

Sophomore Kyle Meyer scored a game-high 17 points on 7-of-10 from the field and also pulled down seven rebounds. Meyer scored a career-high 24 points on 12-of-12 from the floor on Dec. 1 against the Pioneers in Ada.

Jake Cannan was also 7-for-10 shooting and finished with 15 points and eight rebounds for ONU. Senior Kyle Gehle added 12 points and junior Loudan Hammersmith chipped in with 11.

With the game tied at 10-10, junior Kurtis Brown knocked down a 3-pointer to ingnite a 15-4 Polar Bear run to grab a 25-14 lead with 9:55 to go in the first half.

The Bears scored 12 of the last 15 points in the half to take a 45-24 lead into the break.

A 3-pointer by Marietta’s Isaiah Creasap cut the lead to 17 at 51-34 with 15:48 to play but ONU pushed the lead out to 27, 67-40, at the 9:36 mark and cruised the rest of the way for the 80-56 victory.

Creasap led the Pios with 13 points and five assists while the OAC’s leading rebounder Adam Rockhold pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds.

ONU shot 49.2 percent (31-of-63) from the floor and 50 percent (8-of-16) from beyond the arc. The Pioneers were 38.7 percent (24-of-62) from the field and just 31.6 percent (6-of-19) from the 3-point line.

The Polar Bears were dominating around the basket, outscoring the Pioneers 42-28 in the paint and holding a 41-33 advantage on the boards.

Northern will return to action this Wednesday as it hosts Heidelberg at 7:30 pm in the ONU Sports Center.